OVERRATED: 'Red Dawn' remade

Ron Phillips / Film District

A jingoistic example of Cold War-damaged '80s action cinema, the original "Red Dawn" enjoyed a cult following thanks to an over-the-top script and unintentionally comic casting with Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell and Charlie Sheen as a teenage militia. Now with a sort of "Friday Night Lights" meets "Rambo" reboot (sorry, Adrianne Palicki), this unwelcome flashback proves that on-screen fear-mongering never goes out of fashion.

A jingoistic example of Cold War-damaged '80s action cinema, the original "Red Dawn" enjoyed a cult following thanks to an over-the-top script and unintentionally comic casting with Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell and Charlie Sheen as a teenage militia. Now with a sort of "Friday Night Lights" meets "Rambo" reboot (sorry, Adrianne Palicki), this unwelcome flashback proves that on-screen fear-mongering never goes out of fashion. (Ron Phillips / Film District)

A jingoistic example of Cold War-damaged '80s action cinema, the original "Red Dawn" enjoyed a cult following thanks to an over-the-top script and unintentionally comic casting with Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell and Charlie Sheen as a teenage militia. Now with a sort of "Friday Night Lights" meets "Rambo" reboot (sorry, Adrianne Palicki), this unwelcome flashback proves that on-screen fear-mongering never goes out of fashion.